Beit El: Activists Face Arrest, Police Fail to Catch Terrorists

Residents of the town of Beit El are under daily attack from Arab neighbors, but police target Jewish youths.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 2/18/2014, 11:22 AM

Beit El boy after Arab attack

Courtesy of the family

Residents of Beit El, between Jerusalem and Shechem, are under daily attack by their Arab neighbors, who throw rocks at homes and at individuals. However – police action appears to be focused on the victims – the Jews.

"There are riots against Beit El from the direction of Jelazoun,” wrote activist and media critic Chanie Luz, a Beit El resident, on her Facebook page, and posted the accompanying photograph. “Today, there is a solution – harvesting the settlers,” she added sarcastically.

“Police arrested 14 youths and one adult last week. Those arrested include kids in eighth grade(!). Police acted illegally, arrived at the homes without search warrants, handcuffed minors, interrogated them without the presence of parents.

"All have since been released, thank G-d for the Honenu organization and Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, and their excellent work.”

"The government, following horrific pressure by the media, has set aside dozens of extra positions for police and Shin Bet officers, and hefty sums of money for hunting down settlers.

"Those to suffer will be citizens of Israel,” Luz predicted. “In Beit El, the residents will continue to be targeted by rocks, like this boy, whose father was arrested for nothing, and breathe in tear gas and smoke from burning tires. In Tel Aviv and its environs, people will go on 'enjoying' gangland car bombs and executions, because that is the national order of priority, according to the Minister for Public Security and the Commissioner.

"The cute boy in the photo was playing in his neighborhood a few months ago, when a rock thrown through the fence by an Arab hit his face. There are photographs of the rock thrower. I can't help wondering – has he been arrested?”

The Jerusalem District Court, under Judge Moshe Drori, ordered the police on Thursday to immediately free four Jewish youths who were arrested the same day over suspicions of throwing rocks near Beit El in Samaria. In the trial, some disturbing revelations were made about the police.

In his decision, Drori criticized the police sharply for their conduct in the arrest, which was carried out after police broke into the homes of the young Jews.

Ben-Gvir spoke about the ruling, saying "we all should feel sorry that the Judea Samaria police become frantic over anything connected to arrests of right-wing activists."